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Melissa McCarthy is the Boss

I knew I wanted to see The Boss the second I saw the official movie poster. It features Melissa McCarthy posed with her feet on her desk with a portrait of her in the exact same pose. After watching the trailer, I had the slight feeling it would be one of those movies where the trailer is the only hilarious part. I mean, McCarthy has this tendency to be slightly over the top (i.e. disgusting) in her comedy. I mean, let us all remember the Bridesmaids scene where she essentially dropped heat in the sink of a bathroom. But I didn’t care, I generally enjoy McCarthy’s work. And, I got to say, I really enjoyed the film. I may actually see it again (although, I’ll probably just wait for the DVD…movie tickets are so expensive these days).

The Boss tells the story of Michelle Darnell (McCarthy), a wealthy and powerful business woman who gets arrested for insider trading. Upon being released from prison, she learns that she has lost everything and must stay with her former assistant (Kristen Bell) until she can reclaim her wealth and stature.

I saw different interviews with McCarthy where she said she created Michelle Darnell almost fifteen years ago when she was doing improv at the Groundlings, and that this character just stayed with her. She also said that because she kept thinking about the character, she decided to write a full outline of the character’s story eight years ago but no film studios were interested it back then. She credited that to be the climate of the film industry then, but I think part of it has to do with the fact that eight years ago she just ended Gilmore Girls and was only landing small roles in rather obscure movies…her breakthrough in Bridesmaids hadn’t happened yet. But still, it’s interesting that this film/character wasn’t an overnight idea – she spent fifteen years creating it/her.

I found The Boss to be entertaining throughout. Some of the jokes were a bit dirty – which, frankly, is to be expected…it’s Rated R – but there’s a great sword fight between McCarthy and Peter Dinklage and a scene where McCarthy raps a whole verse from DJ Khaled’s song “All I Do is Win.” I can honestly say that the movie wasn’t a let down and there are more hilarious bits than just what’s in the trailer.